Morning all.
24 hours later and it doesn’t feel any better. In fact the more I read other people’s opinion and watch further footage, the David Luiz sending off gets worse. We won’t miss his presence in defence in my opinion because we have Gabriel and Mari to call upon but the numbers made a difference against Wolves.
I suppose the only good thing about a shortened season crammed with fixtures is that Arsenal play again very soon. A Saturday lunchtime kickoff against Aston Villa is up next. Win that one and perhaps we’ll all feel a little better.
Villa played last night and lost. Emi Martinez dropped a big of a clanger I read, good, let’s hope he drops a few more on Saturday. I worry about our own goalkeeping situation more though.
On Mat Ryan’s fitness…
He has not been available to train yet, and Alex is available, so we will have the choice between the two of them for the weekend. If Mat is able to train, and they are both fit, we will have a decision to make. If Mat is not fit, obviously Alex will be in goal.
Alex Runasson hasn’t played much this season but when he has, he’s looked lightweight, out of confidence and quiet frankly, well out of his depth. But back in 1997, Arsene Wenger signed an Austrian keeper who was similar in frame, he looked like a lost boy and he was pretty much unknown. That very same season, David Seaman suffered an injury and the young keeper was called on. Six clean sheets later, a Premier League player of the month award was in his pocket.
Runasson’s League debut in the League Cup back in December couldn’t have been worse. Any keeper facing Man City is going to be busy but the poor guy dropped two stinkers. Riyad Mahrez’s free-kick came straight at him yet he couldn’t hold onto it and Jesus managed to beat him easily with a header inside the near post which Runasson should have had covered. Mind you, I still think Seaman should have stopped ‘that Giggs goal’ too. Two good stops against Wolves, a moment of confusion between him and Gabriel added to a ‘what do I do’ moment when we had a free kick won’t have convinced many Arsenal fans that he’s good enough I’m sure but it’s not his fault Arsenal signed him and it’s not his fault Leno was stupid enough to get himself sent off at Molinex.
Of course I hope Mat Ryan is fit to start because he has more PL experience but if Arteta has to turn to the rookie, then I hope he has a great game. At least then he might not be forced to shut down yet another social media account. Something he was forced to do after the amount of abuse he suffered after the 4-1 loss against Man City.
See you in the comments.
Well said, Rico.
We should take a breath every now and again and remember we are criticising people who have accomplished a hell of a lot more in Football than most of us could ever dream of 🙂
Online abuse really irks me Scott, as you know.. lol
Mind you, look at what happened to the guy who abused Wrighty, there’s no deterrent.
Rico, I read about that earlier-disgraceful!!
The only thing worse than the lack of punishment was the things the bastard said. Though they paled in comparison to what Xhaka copped.
Some of things said to him were as disgusting as anything I’ve seen.
Must admit Scott, I didn’t see the abuse Xhaka got which is the reason I thought his behaviour that day at Palace was disgraceful. However, having then realised what had gone on beforehand, no wonder he blew his fuse.
These blokes are only human..
Hi Rico I can understand why some people have a go at players but their has to be a line drawn to what you say.
What I really have no time for are fans that abuse the players wife and kids after all it’s not there fault that the player had a stinker of a game that made any team loose.
same as I can not except these parents that abuse young kids ( 15 year and under ) in the local league and trainee umpires and referees when they are still learning the game and rules
Hi Geoff. Being critical is fine imo but it’s when things get personal it oversteps the mark.
Good day to you all from Norfolk, after a fine, warm and sunny morning it’s now starting to cloud over, but for a few hours there was just a hint of spring. As Captain Tom would say “Tomorrow will be a good day”.
A little light relief from the VAR situation….Late on Friday following the EU vaccine debacle, Boris left a voice mail message for Emanuel Macron, and for a laugh left it in German. Macron later phoned back and said “Boris I got your message but I’m afraid I don’t speak German”. Boris paused for a second and replied “and who do you think you should thank for that?”.
how many games for Leno? 3?
If Ryan isn’t ok, who’s going to the bench?
Hi Rico… Nice one! I really feel for Runarsson, poor sod. What a torrid time he’s had with us so far.
I thought he did well in Europe and yes the City game could’ve gone better, but hey, such is life!
I’m right behind him and hope, if he does end up playing on Saturday, he has a blinder!!
Makes me so angry reading all the stuff that’s being said about him playing.. I just hope he doesn’t see any of it, imagine what that’ll do to his confidence..
Ha ha Cicero.
Hi Sue, thanks. I feel for him too, just dumped from the Europa League squad only to find himself in the starting eleven in the League. Probably.
AFC.com
The Football Association have confirmed to us that the red card given to David Luiz on Tuesday against Wolverhampton Wanderers will stand.
We have worked really hard to overturn David Luiz’s red card. We presented our case to the FA but are disappointed that our appeal has been unsuccessful.
We accept the FA’s decision and continue our preparations for Saturday’s match against Aston Villa.
I see Southampton’s man had his red overturned though….
Didn’t expect anything different , Bednarek however got off .
It’s a red card now for getting too close .
If they had overturned Luiz’s red they would have admitted that their ‘impartial’ referee had directly affected a result. I imagine that they were completely indifferent to the circumstances and detail of the appeal.
I don’t know how anybody with an ounce of football knowledge would suggest the red card should stand, unless other factors were at play.
As you say Adam, admitting the decision influenced the result is something they’d not want to do, but that was their chance to show they’re not the arrogant bastards everyone thinks.
Instead, it confirmed what people think.
Rico, the personal abuse should never happen.
Criticise performances, but keep it that way.
I’ve only just seen the Southampton player had his red overturned. What a sorry state of affairs football is in. One for for one eh…
Agree Scott.
Definitely various sets of rules, depending on the club.
What does your media have to say, Rico?
Surely there’s been plenty of discussion about the situation.
Scott there probably isn’t a supporter of any Premiership club who is happy with the refereeing and VAR. Every Premiership club has suffered due to the vagaries and inconsistent application of the laws of the game due to the system in place.
I can’t be bothered to examine the statistics but I would hazard a guess that Arsenal are treated no worse than any other club. As to the conspiracy theories I treat them with contempt.
It’s good to see the Spuds lose again, even if it is to Chelsea.
Won’t be too long before Jose Mourinho kicks off…
Isn’t it nice, test cricket on terrestrial TV…
The coverage of the India – England test has been brilliant. They did well to get Nick Knight from Sky, Alistair Cook in the studio, Joe Root what a player.
Back to the title of this post, yes we 100% should be kind to Runarsson, personal abuse is bang out of order.
If he plays tomorrow he deserves all our backing. That said I wouldn’t feel too sorry for him. According to Transfermarkt he earns around £35000 pw.
Sue must be a nice person! Sure he made a few saves in the Europa League, I remember a few dodgy moments too, passing to defenders, dodgy handling etc.
Good luck to him if he plays anyway.
https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1357646084726812677?s=20
I voted for Saka!!
Potter.. 🙂👍
If Runarsson starts the players in front of him must give him the options he needs when he has the ball. They have to move about and find the space to receive a pass from him. A bit less playing out from the back would also help. In particular he must be encouraged to hit long passes for Pepe and Saka to run onto.
The less time spent passing the ball aimlessly around in front of Runarsson, the less risk of him making errors.
Sue after Leno’s brain fart the other day, your choice of Saka is a no brainer.
Credit to Sibley too, excellent innings. Just a shame he couldn’t get his hundred.
Afternoon guys, Saka or ESR would be my player of the month. Or Lacazette.
Nominations for January:
MA.. MOTM
Saka/Leno..POTM
Saka/Tierney GOTM (against West Brom 👌) Although we all know Salah will win it, for his goal against West Ham 🙄 Almost made me vomit, listening to Martin Tyler gushing over it for at least half an hour afterwards…
We had a great January!!
Yes Rico, I was gutted for Sibley, only a few runs short, but he did a great job keeping his head after we lost two quick wickets. Now we need to go big and bat India out of the test because this wicket is as flat as a pancake.
Just why I don’t watch much other football Sue..
And so close to the end of play Kev. Great to see Stokes back, hopefully he and Root will stick around tomorrow.
Archer will get a bit of bounce out of the wicket. Lol
Evening Rico and the House.
Our u23s are at home this evening to the Chaves
Should give us a good indication where our boys are.
Notice Ryan trained with the team today looks lika he could make
it tomorrow..
I also read that Arteta has told Okonkwo he is our no 4 goal keeper.
( Leno ,Ryan, Runasson, Okonkwo).
Makes sense to me as I have watched Hein make some bad mistakes over the last 2 seasons.
I cant get over the size of Okonkwo.
He is only 19 and they say he is 6ft 4inch looks taller to me.
Ryan and Mari fit for tomorrow.. Tierney still out
Tonights Team,
Hein
Alebiouse
Dinzey
Kirk
Lopes
Akinola
Patino
Cottrell
Moller
Nelson
Balogun
By the looks of the selection the penny has dropped.
Nelson at No 10
Yeah, Archer and Stokes will get them jumping about Rico and Jimmy will get some reverse swing.
Chelsea U23’s beat Man United U23’s 6-1 last time out Rick, this is gonna be a tough match up.
10mins 1down
30 mins 1 1 Nelson suppered freekic
31 mins 1-2
Some very good footballriçk.bowring@btinternet.com
Charlie Patino looks a top quality midfielder and quite impressed with Akinola, the Chelsea players just bounced off of him every time they tried a tackle.
Alebiosu, first time I’ve seen him and he’s got something about him, very leggy in a Viv Anderson style and got better as the game progressed.
Finished 2 each good enough result .
Watching first half of Swansea v Norwich. Max Aaron’s looks a decent right back .
Chelsea are very strong and physical and you can see how they intimidate opponents but we stayed with them and could have won in the end, Balogun snatching at a couple of chances.
Reiss Nelson was a class above everyone on the pitch and he was the main driver behind us coming from behind twice and drawing, his younger team mates seemed to feed off of his obvious quality and in general I thought the Arsenal players were more skilful.
The Chelsea players must spend a lot of time pumping iron, but that’ll only get you so far…
Evening Rick, excellent news re Ryan.
What was the final score?
8m looking forward to it Kev, hopefully on Sunday..
2-2 Rico
Thanks Kev, good result in the end then.
New post up now